10:25 PM,
Feb. 22, 2014

Brendan Coyle (who plays John Bates) and Joanne Froggart (Anna Smith) are part of the cast of 'Downton Abbey,' which depicts the lives of the noble Crawley family, the staff who serve them and the economic issues that confront them. Illustrates DOWNTONOMICS (category f), by Steven Mufson, (c) The Washington Post. Moved Friday Feb. 7, 2014. (MUST CREDIT: Nick Briggs/PBS).

Written by

Steve Mufson
| The Washington Post

Lord Grantham may think he can take arms against the slings and arrows of 1920s Britain that threaten Downton Abbey and its outrageous fortune, but he faces a mighty adversary: the immutable laws of economics.

When Mrs. Patmore tussles with the new mixer, or Grantham frets over "death taxes," or "poor Molesley" loses his post and resorts to patching up the pavement, "Downton Abbey" is paying homage to economic forces that transcend early 20th-century Britain and apply just as neatly to the 21st-century world.

"Downton's" soap opera characters are wrestling not only with their emotions, ...